Dear Faculty and Staff of York College,
Please be reminded that all CUNY employees are required to comply with the law and regulations governing the receipt and reporting of honoraria earnings, regardless of their designation as a policy-maker (see Title 19 NYCRR Part 930: Honoraria).
COELIG generally defines an honorarium as a payment for a service that is not part of an employee’s official duties. Examples include delivering a speech, writing or publishing an article, and participating in a public or private conference, convention, or meeting. Honoraria also includes expenses incurred for travel, lodging and meals related to the service performed.
CUNY Employees Not Employed in Academic Titles
Non-academic employees of CUNY must seek prior approval in order to accept honoraria revenues and must report the receipt of honoraria revenues to their college’s ethics officer. Keep in mind that honoraria revenues generally cannot be received from an interested source (generally defined as an entity or individual seeking to do or actually doing business with CUNY, such as vendors, would-be vendors, unions, etc.).
CUNY Faculty: Full Time and Adjunct
All CUNY faculty are exempt from the restrictions on the receipt of honoraria revenues, provided that the service performed by the faculty member is within the subject matter of his or her academic discipline. This exemption means:
1. CUNY faculty do not need to seek approval to receive honoraria, if within the subject matter of his or her academic discipline.
2. CUNY faculty may receive honoraria income from an interested source, if within the subject matter of his or her academic discipline.
However, CUNY faculty must still report the receipt of any and all honoraria. The exemption for academic positions does not relieve faculty from the reporting requirement.
COELIG, while defining honoraria as compensation for work unrelated to an employee’s official duties, still requires faculty to report receipts of all speaking fees; reimbursed travel expenses; or payments received for writing and/or presenting written materials.
A form for recording all honoraria can be found on the webpage of the Office of Legal Affairs at https://www.cuny.edu/about/administration/offices/legal-affairs/policies-resources/ethics/honoraria/ . The reporting period for honoraria is April 1 to March 31.
All records of honoraria income received by CUNY employees during the period April 1, 2024 through March 31, 2025 must be forwarded to the College Ethics Officer (Russell Platzek) by May 1, 2025.
A university, school or college does not need to report Honoria to COELIG. However, each college needs to retain all honoraria reports for three years.
CUNY employees (in both academic and non-academic titles) who file an FDS must also report all honoraria in excess of $1,000 on their annual FDS.
If you have any questions, please contact Russell Platzek, Esq., at rplatzek@PROTECTED .